FOB media tour highlights

By Jacob Thorpe
June 3, 2014 8:08 p.m.

Bill Moos gave the WSU athletics press corps a personal tour of Washington State's nearly completed football operations building today. Its grandeur was enough to make me wish I'd learned how to whistle. You can check out our story in tomorrow's paper for all the details (rumor is it will make the front page) but I thought I'd share some highlights after the jump.

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— The facility really is something. It's just over 84,000 square feet, and the weight room alone is over 11,000. To put that in perspective, the weight room shared by every sport up until now — considered one of the best in the country when it was built — was just over 10,000.

— Mike Leach's office is nicer than my apartment. Don't laugh, it's probably nicer than your house. It's a corner office on the top floor overlooking Martin Stadium. It's got a conference room (QB position meetings will happen there), a bathroom with a shower, a kitchenette, and is entirely made out of some very expensive looking wood.

— The project came in a little under budget, which Moos plans to put toward some cosmetic upgrades to Martin Stadium before the season begins. He wouldn't reveal much, but I'm certain that you will finally get those crimson end zones you've always wanted.

— The WSU hall of fame looks pretty nice, it will be interesting to see what they do with the two flatscreen TVs (there are 49 total in the building). When the Cougars have the Apple Cup it will be prominently displayed in that area, and when the Huskies have it there will be a silhouette of the trophy. There will also be a few mannequins in the area and on game day they will be wearing whatever jersey the Cougars decide to go with.

— The locker room is huge, 11,610 square feet huge, which is twice as large as the old one. It makes sense that the Cougars need a big space to hold the big lockers they'll be using, which are actually ventilated to control the inevitable smell. The locker room also has a plunge tub and a large meeting area.

— Bill Moos has plans for the "plaza" area next to Bohler leading up to the stadium. On game days they are going to make it a student gathering area and put TV screens up to encourage students to stay close to the stadium before the game and at halftime.

— There aren't making things easy for the visiting team. Rather than give the visitors the old football locker room they're going to keep them where they are, likely requiring a trek through Bohler on their way to the stadium.

— Moos and his staff traveled to Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and LSU to cherry pick ideas for the FOB.

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